ONTD_Political's PotD: January 11, 2011.
A Historic Vote In Sudan | There is jubilation in Juba, a young but scruffy city in Southern Sudan that could soon become the world’s newest capital. Hundreds of residents rallied in the streets, days before voting begins in a seven-day independence referendum that is likely to result in the south breaking away from the Khartoum-based north. The 2005 treaty brought to an end decades of civil war between the Islamic north and predominantly Christian and animist south. The south is expected to vote by around 99 percent to secede from the north - which will also give it a majority of Sudan's oil. Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir has stated he would honor the vote, whatever the outcome. Should the vote to secede pass, the hard work of defining borders, working out how to share oil revenue and more will have just begun. Collected here are images of Sudanese people participating in this week's vote.
Young Sudanese participate in a rally in support of the independence referendum in the southern Sudanese city of Juba January 7, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
People live in a camp for internally displaced Sudanese from Khartoum at a port in the southern Sudanese city of Juba. South Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, is preparing for an independence referendum to take place this Sunday following a historic 2005 peace treaty that brought to an end decades of civil war between the Arab north and predominantly Christian and animist south.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
A police officer walks in a pro independence march January 5, 2011 in Juba, Sudan. Over two million people were killed in the north-south civil war which began in the 1950`s.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
People living on the grounds of a hospital watch as an independence parade goes by January 5, 2011 in Juba, Sudan. The south is expected to vote around 99 percent to secede from the north which will also give it a majority of Sudan's oil resulting in splitting Africa's largest country in two.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
A man sits on a bed in an Internally Displaced Camp (IDP) January 5, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
Members of a branch of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) play in a band during a pro independence march January 5, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
Women drive in a pro independence parade January 5, 2011 in Juba, Sudan. Southern Sudan is preparing for an independence referendum to take place this Sunday following a historic 2005 peace treaty that brought an end to decades of civil war between the Arab north and predominantly Christian and animist south.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
Players sit on a bench while watching a soccer match in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
A teenager works on the construction of a tent which is to be used for the referendum vote in the southern Sudanese city of Juba January 6, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
A man speaks with merchants in a market in the southern Sudanese city of Juba. The south is expected to vote around 99 percent to secede from the north which will also give it a majority of Sudans oil.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
People walk through a market in the southern Sudanese city of Juba.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
A group of south Sudanese people, who just arrived from Kampala, Uganda, in the bordertown of Nimule celebrate on January 9, 2011 the start of a historic referendum in Sudan. The deputy head of the South Sudan Referendum Commission, Chan Reec, hailed what he described as an unprecedented turnout in the first hours of the independence vote today.
(MARC HOFER | AFP/Getty Images)
A Sudanese supporter of secession pastes posters upon the arrival of Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir at Juba airport on January 4, 2010. Beshir said in a speech in the southern capital that he would celebrate the result of this week's referendum "even if you choose secession."
(YASUYOSHI CHIBA | AFP/Getty Images)
In this photo taken Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011 men pass time at the port in Juba, southern Sudan. The barge in front of them contains the possessions of southern Sudanese who have recently returned to their home from the north. Thousands of people began casting ballots Sunday during a weeklong vote to choose the destiny of this war-ravaged and desperately poor but oil-rich region. The mainly Christian south is widely expected to secede from the mainly Muslim north, splitting Africa's largest country in two.
(AP Photo | Pete Muller)
Salva Kiir Mayardit, acting President of the Government of Southern Sudan, leaves a stadium after casting his vote during the first day of voting for the independence referendum in the southern Sudanese city of Juba January 9, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
A mother and her daughter walk to a polling station during the second day of voting for the independence referendum January 10, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
A Southern Sudanese family waves to relatives from a train to Baher Al Gazal State in South Sudan, in Khartoum January 9, 2011. Southern Sudanese are heading home to the south in such convoys, organized by humanitarian groups in the south, to ensure their vote counts in the independence referendum.
(REUTERS | Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)
Southern Sudanese voters lean on a wall as they wait to vote at a local polling station in Juba on January 09, 2011 on the first day of a week-long independence referendum.
(ROBERTO SCHMIDT | AFP/Getty Images)
An official shows a ballot paper to a South Sudanese man living in Kenya, at a polling station in Nairobi on January 9, 2011.
(SIMON MAINA | AFP/Getty Images)
Southern Sudanese women queue outside a polling station in Juba to cast their ballots on January 9, 2011.
(ROBERTO SCHMIDT | AFP/Getty Images)
A woman places her finger in blue ink after voting during the independence referendum January 10, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
Southern Sudanese Grace Gogonya Wainu, holding pictures from Sudan, one depicting her brother-in-law fighter Scofes Loboro at left, who she says died in 2005, cries after she cast her vote for the Southern Sudan Referendum in a special polling station set up in central London, Sunday Jan. 9, 2011. The only referendum polling center in Europe was set up in UK, one of the eight countries outside Sudan with significant diaspora populations.
(AP Photo | Lefteris Pitarakis)
A southern Sudanese woman participates in a day of prayer at a church before the independence referendum vote tomorrow in the southern Sudanese city of Juba January 8, 2011.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
Heavily armed Southern Sudanese soldiers on security detail outside a polling station in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011.
(AP Photo | Pete Muller)
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan conclude a visit to a polling center the southern capital of Juba Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011.
(AP Photo | Pete Muller)
Voting officials use cable ties to secure a ballot box at the Giyada polling center on the first day of a referendum in Nyala (South Darfur) January 9, 2011.
(REUTERS | Albert Gonzalez Farran | UNAMID)
A Southern Sudanese couple dances outside a polling station in Cairo on January 9, 2011, on the first day of a week-long independence referendum.
(MOHAMMED ABED | AFP/Getty Images)
A girl wipes her face while holding a jug of water on her head during the second day of voting for the independence referendum January 10, 2011 in Juba, Sudan.
(Spencer Platt | Getty Images)
Abeer Osman, The granddaughter of former Prime Minister and President of Sudan Ismail al-Azhari stands near the residence of al-Azhari, which is partially covered by a black cloth to protest against separation in Khartoum January 10, 2011.
(REUTERS | Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)
A Sudanese journalist, Liza Taban, takes notes in a school turned into a polling center in Khartoum on January 10, 2011 on the second day of a landmark independence referendum.
(KHALED DESOUKI | AFP/Getty Images)
Southern Sudanese line up to vote at dawn in the southern capital of Juba Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011.
(AP Photo | Pete Muller)
A southern Sudanese woman shows her inked finger after voting at a polling center in Khartoum on January 10, 2011.
(KHALED DESOUKI | AFP/Getty Images)
POTD Mood Tune:
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Full galleries:
- "Sudan Vote" | In Focus | Denver Post
- "A Historic Vote In Sudan" | The Big Picture | Boston Globe